Saturday, January 29, 2005

Bread

Good bread is one of the greatest joys of my life. Every time I think of an Atkins style diet I think "Could I give up pasta? Yeah. Could I give up rice? Sure. Could I give up tortillas? Probably. Could I give up bread?" And then my mind wanders to all the greatest varieties of bread. My grandmother used to make this homemade sweet sourdough that was always brewing in the back of her fridge, a day away from bread glory. Fresh from the oven with nothing on it, it was one of the greatest pleasures of life. Unfortunately, the bread culture died, so there's not that bread anymore. Then there's Trader Joe's fat free crumpets, the perfect English breakfast treat. Next my mind wanders to Grace Baking, and specifically their par-baked Pugeliese. Few finer things exist on this earth than one of those tiny loaves after 7 minutes in the over. Crusty and crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, not sweet, and always melt in your mouth delicious, smeared with a little butter and honey or dipped in olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, I cannot imagine anything I'd rather eat. So yeah, the thought of Atkins? I think I'd rather be fat. Pardon me while I have another slice. Mmmm...